AFP, Los Angeles :
Hannah Green became the first Australian to win a major championship in 13 years on Sunday, holding off a pack of marquee players to deliver wire-to-wire victory at the Women’s PGA Championship.
The 22-year-old Green, who had never won on the LPGA Tour before, had and up and down par save on the final hole for an even-par 72 and a one-stroke victory over defending champion Park Sung-hyun.
“To win a major as my first event I am so over the moon,” said Green.
Green, of Perth, capped her win with a nervy four-foot putt on 18 for her third birdie of the round to reach a nine-under 279 total at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.
“I was really nervous playing the last five holes,” said Green. “I am just happy I made a clutch putt because that is what I was struggling with in the middle of the round. It really is surreal.”
Green had to overcome a mid-round wobble with three bogeys in a four hole stretch. But then she got back on track with a long birdie putt on 16 to become the first player to win the event wire-to-wire since Taiwan’s Tseng Yani in 2011.
